Widgeon, Frogs, starling (20140424) A walk in the park.

After a stellar morning with the wildlife out at the Ranch I had a quick lunch at home. The sun was still "available" so I thought a little walk down at FCPP was in order. As usual I started off with a visit to the GHO nest to see who was harrassing the nest today. I was pleasantly pleased that no one else was there and that the whole family was resting. I was also pleased to be able to grab a couple of images of this Starling.

I was shown where "dad" was sitting and grabbing a nap as well by a passerby. He was in the shade resting comfortably, and I did nothing to disturb him.

I headed down to the river and through Hulls Wood. I am still amazed at the destruction of last year's flooding. There is no longet a nice treed pathway that allows approach to the river, now there is only yards and yards (distance, not volume) of gravel along the entire shoreline.  I was able ot grab a quick shot of this mallard feeding on a river "hatch" that had several kinds of birds present.

I was even able to find a cormorant, although there was only one that I could see.

There were a couple hundred of Franklins gulls feeding on the hatch as well.

I was also treated to some great light and a closer encounter with an american widgeon to provide me with my best opportunities for this bird.

So, when I get my "best shots" I always like to throw in a second or third:)

I find these to be quite beautiful birdswhen you get "capture" them properly.  With the light disappearing due to clouds I headed back to the truck. I found four ladies having a debate about what they were listening to; they were frogs not ducks:)

So with Kerri's love of amphibians in mind, and assuming she hadn't found any frogs yet this year I thought I would stop and see if I could find one with my lens.

With the poor light and positioning these make for tough subjects. This is a first for the blog (I think) the Boreal Chorus Frog.  I am certain Kerri will correct me if I am wrong.  (Well that only took a couple of hours as Kerri has let me know that this here is a Columbia Spotted frog! Still a first for the blog )Here is a shot of one with its sides extended while it "sings" in the chorus.

I will have to return on the first sunny opportunity that presents itself. I would like to get better images of these usually invisible songsters.  I will wrap up this post and the day here. I had a full and exciting day. Come on out, lets have some excitement together.

Turbo